02704nas a2200361   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001500055653001000070653001000080653001100090653002900101653003300130653001100163653001100174653001200185653000900197653001200206653001700218653001100235100001300246700001600259700001200275700001300287700001200300245007400312856005900386300001000445490000700455050001600462520185000478022001402328       2000                            d  c2000 Jun10aAdolescent10aAdult10aChild10aFamily10aFamily Planning Services10aFellowships and Scholarships10aFemale10aHumans10aleprosy10aMale10aPoverty10aRural Health10aTurkey1 aSaylan T1 aKaradeniz A1 aIyier N1 aSoydan M1 aPamuk D00aA scholarship project for the children of leprosy patients in Turkey.  uhttp://leprev.ilsl.br/pdfs/2000/v71n2/pdf/v71n2a11.pdf  a212-60 v71  aSAYLAN 20003 a<p>Most of the leprosy patients in Turkey live in the rural areas of Eastern and South-Eastern Anatolia. Those living in the suburbs of the big cities of the Western parts of the country have come there by immigration. Nearly all patients are very poor; they have no land, or only a small amount of soil for cultivation. The incidence of deformities in our patients is high, excluding them from regular employment and a source of income. In Turkey, it is obligatory to attend primary school, but after that education has to be paid for, and the poor families of leprosy patients find it difficult to continue the education of their children. As the 'Society for the Struggle Against Leprosy', based in the Istanbul Leprosy Hospital at Bakirköy, we have developed a project to enable patients to continue sending their children to school, whilst at the same time asking the mothers to seek advice and guidance on family planning. The outset objective of this project was to enable children and young people, who otherwise have almost no chance of continuing education, to pursue education at secondary, high school and university levels. It was envisaged that in the long term educated children would be able to find a job and provide effective care and support for parents and other members of the family. This paper describes the administrative and other measures adopted and the results of the project from 1995 to 1998, during which a total of 545 children have been supported at an overall cost of US$107,378. The scholarship project has so far been remarkably successful in Turkey and it is hoped that it may provide a model for similar approaches in other countries. An unexpected and extremely encouraging finding has been that females now exceed males in this project and are increasing at all levels, including university entrance.</p>  a0305-7518